Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has expressed how he would be ‘surprised’ if the Golden State Warriors do NOT trade their 2020 NBA Draft pick.
We are officially at the point of the offseason where we will begin to see smokescreens set out for any team looking to make a move ahead of the NBA Draft. The Golden State Warriors have every reason to explore trade options and making their goals unclear to the rest of the league will help them gain leverage in negotiations.
At least, that’s what Sam Vecenie of The Athletic thinks. In his latest mock draft (subscription required), Vecenie dove deep into the idea that the Warriors will trade the No. 2 pick in return for some win-now assets. In order to do this, they will have to express maximum interest in James Wiseman – as he is the prospect with the highest trade value in the draft.
By making it look like the Dubs are interested in Wiseman, other teams could feel pressure to swap picks and move up in the draft. This opens up pathways for the Dubs to get the deal they want before the draft takes place.
Vecenie went as far as to say that he would be ‘surprised’ if the Warriors end up using the pick for themselves. Firmly placing his faith in the franchise finding a suitable trade partner within the next month.
Who would the Warriors trade with? Well, there are a surprising amount of options. Albeit, not many good ones. The San Antonio Spurs could look to rebuild by shipping Rudy Gay, a versatile scoring forward, to the Dubs. Or, perhaps they aim bigger and make a run at players like Al Horford and Kelly Oubre Jr.
Whatever it is, the Warriors will certainly have options to explore heading into draft night. While Vecenie seems to think the No. 2 pick will be traded – we won’t know for sure until the Warriors make a final decision.